Tokyo Metro
The Tokyo Metro (東京メトロ Tōkyō Metoro) is a major rapid transit system in Tokyo, Japan. While it is not the only rapid transit system operating in Tokyo, it has the higher ridership among the two subway operators: in 2014, the Tokyo Metro had an average daily ridership of 6.84 million passengers, while the other system, the Toei Subway, had 2.85 million average daily rides. The company replaced the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (帝都高速度交通営団 Teito Kōsokudo Kōtsū Eidan), commonly known as Eidan or TRTA, on April 1, 2004. Tokyo Metro has indicated in the public share that it will cease line construction once Fukutoshin Line has been completed. The line was completed in 2013 with the opening of the line connection at Shibuya Station, but there are several lines such as Hanzomon Line that still have extensions in the official plans and in the past, these plans have tend to happen but often in several decades. There are also some other rail project proposals in Tokyo which would involve large-scale tunneling projects, but these are unlikely to involve Tokyo Metro. The only proposal that has any suggestion of possible Tokyo Metro involvement is the prominent project proposed as a new Narita and Haneda Airport connection through a tunnel through central Tokyo to a new station adjacent to the existing Tokyo Station. This line is often described as a bypass of the current Toei Asakusa Line. It would link the Keisei Oshiage Line (with service to Narita Airport) to the Keikyu Main Line (with service to Haneda Airport) through Tokyo Station. The 400 billion yen project would be largely divided between the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Japanese central government (which is similar to the structure of Tokyo Metro) with the rail operator or operators paying the balance. The suggestion of Tokyo Metro involvement comes mostly from its description as a bypass to the Asakusa Line which might imply it to be a subway line, but the principle proposal only includes one stop in Tokyo (at Tokyo Station). The principle justification of the proposal is to reduce connection time from Narita Airport to Tokyo Station by 13 minutes, and the design of the proposal makes this much more a high-speed rail project than a subway project (though, it would likely not be up to all of Japan's Shinkansen high-speed rail standards). Currently the only high-speed connection to the Narita Airport is the Keisei Skyliner which runs to Ueno, but there is ordinary train service between these airports using the Asakusa Line. The proposal would essentially allow the Skyliner to run to the more important Tokyo Station as well as establish a high-speed connection to the Haneda Airport. Nine lines include: *Line 2: Hibiya Line *Line 3: Ginza Line *Line 4: Marunouchi Line *Line 5: Tozai Line *Line 7: Namboku Line *Line 8: Yurakucho Line *Line 9: Chiyoda Line *Line 11: Hanzomon Line *Line 13: Fukutoshin Line Several trains were donated to Buenos Aires, which is the Eidan 500 series, Nagoya 300/700/1200 series as well as Nagoya 5000 series. Some of the 203 series trains were shipped to Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI) in 2011. One of the train in the same batch was involved in the sarin gas attack in 1995. Fukutoshin is Japanese for "secondary city center", and the Fukutoshin Line connects three of Tokyo's secondary city centers: Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya. Prior to its opening, only JR East had rail service between the three (on the Yamanote Line, the Saikyō Line and the Shōnan-Shinjuku Line). The new line was conceived to relieve congestion along this busy corridor, and to provide convenient through service between the northwest, the southwest and the central part of Tokyo served by the Yamanote Line. The line was initially planned to run from Shiki, Saitama to Shinjuku, with the possibility of going to Shibuya and Haneda Airport. A 3.2km of the Kotake-Mukaihara to Ikebukuro, running parallel to Yurakucho Line (which is called Yurakucho New Line), opened in 1994. The newest segment was completed on 14 June 2008, via Zoshigaya, Nishi-waseda, Higashi-shinjuku, Shinjuku-sanchome, Kita-sando and Meiji-jingumae (Harajuku). Lines Chuo Line *Shinjuku *Yotsuya *Ochanomizu *Kanda *Tokyo Chuo-Sobu Line Chūō-Sōbu Line is part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network, but it operates on separate tracks along the right-of-way of the Chūō Main Line (Chūō Line (Rapid)) and Sōbu Main Line (Sōbu Line (Rapid)), providing service between Mitaka Station in the cities of Mitaka and Musashino and Chiba Station in Chiba. It is also similar to Singapore MRT's Cross Island Line, where it will be express skipping some stops. *Shinjuku *Yoyogi (Express) *Sendagaya (Express) *Shinanomachi *Ichigaya (Express) *Iidabashi (Express) Fukutoshin Line *Ikebukuro *Zoshigaya *Nishi-waseda *Higashi-shinjuku *Shinjuku-sanchome *Kita-sando *Meiji-jingumae *Shibuya Ginza Line *Asakusa *Tawaramachi *Inaricho *Ueno *Ueno-hirokoji *Suehirocho *Kanda *Mitsukoshimae *Nihombashi *Kyobashi *Ginza *Shimbashi *Toranomon *Tameike-sanno *Akasaka-mitsuke Marunouchi Line *Shinjuku *Shinjuku-sanchome *Shinjuku-gyoemmae *Yotsuya-sanchome *Yotsuya *Akasaka-mitsuke *Tokyo *Otemachi *Awajicho *Ochanomizu *Hongo-sanchome *Korakuen *Myogadani *Shin-otsuka *Ikebukuro Oedo Line *Shiodome *Tsukijishojo *Kachidoki *Tsukishima *Monzen-Nakacho Shinjuku Line *Shinjuku *Shinjuku-sanchome *Akebonobashi *Ichigaya *Kudanshita Keiyo Line *Maihama Tozai Line *Iidabashi *Kudanshita *Takebashi *Otemachi *Nihombashi *Kayabacho *Monzen-Nakacho *Kiba *Toyocho *Minami-Sunamachi *Nishi-Kasai *Kasai Yamanote Line The Yamanote Line is a circular line in Tokyo. It is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo's major stations and urban centres, including Marunouchi, the Yūrakuchō/Ginza area, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Ueno, with all but two of its 29 stations connecting to other railway or underground (subway) lines. As an official line name, "Yamanote Line" indicates the tracks between Shinagawa and Tabata via Shinjuku that are used by local trains on their own tracks as well as the parallel Yamanote Freight Line which is used by Saikyō Line and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line trains, some limited express services, and freight trains. However, in everyday usage the "Yamanote Line" refers to the entire 34.5 km loop line served by local trains. Trains run from 04:26 to 01:18 the next day at intervals as short as 2 minutes during peak periods and four minutes at other times. A complete loop takes 59 to 65 minutes. All trains stop at each station. Trains are put into and taken out of service at Ōsaki (which for timetabling purposes is the line's start and terminus) and sometimes Ikebukuro. Certain trains also start from Tamachi in the mornings and end at Shinagawa in the evenings. Trains which run clockwise are known as sotomawari (外回り, "outer circle") and those counter-clockwise as uchi-mawari (内回り, "inner circle"). (Trains travel on the left in Japan, as with road traffic.) The line also acts as a fare zone destination for JR tickets from locations outside Tokyo, permitting travel to any JR station on or within the loop. This refers to stations on the Yamanote Line as well as the Chūō-Sōbu and Chūō Rapid Lines and between Sendagaya and Ochanomizu. The ridership of the Yamanote Line in 2015 is 1,097,093 passengers. However, in this case the "Yamanote Line" refers to JR East's internal definition of the entire rail corridor between Shinagawa and Tabata stations via Shinjuku. As such ridership of the local service connecting its 29 stations is divided into several corridors making a complete ridership count of only the Yamanote Loop unavailable. Ridership of the Saikyō and Shōnan–Shinjuku Lines sharing the corridor on the parallel Yamanote freight line is included in the ridership of the Yamanote Line while the ridership of the Yamanote Line between Tabata and Shinagawa Station is excluded and counted as part of the Tōhoku and Tōkaidō Main Lines. Due to the Yamanote Line's central location connecting most of Tokyo's major commuter hubs and commercial areas, the line is very heavily used. Sections of the line were running over 250% capacity in the 1990s and remained above 200% for most of the 2000s. However, with the opening of new alternate railway lines such as the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line with associated through operations and the JR East Ueno–Tokyo Line, overcrowding has been significantly reduced. As of 2016, the busiest section of the line runs at 167% capacity. Stations *Shibuya *Harajuku *Yoyogi *Shinjuku *Shin-Okubo *Takadanobaba *Mejiro *Ikebukuro *Otsuka *Sugamo *Komagome *Tabata *Nishi-Nippori *Nippori *Uguisudani *Ueno *Okachimachi *Akihabara *Kanda History The predecessor of the present-day Yamanote Line was opened on 1 March 1885 by the Nippon Railway Company, operating between Shinagawa Station in the south and Akabane Station in the north. The top part of the loop between Ikebukuro and Tabata (a distance of 3.3 km) opened on 1 April 1903, and both lines were merged to become the Yamanote Line on 12 October 1909. The contemporary Yamanote Line came into being on 19 November 1956 when it was separated from the Keihin-Tōhoku Line and given its own set of tracks along the eastern side of the loop between Shinagawa and Tabata. However, Yamanote Line trains continued to periodically use the Keihin-Tōhoku tracks, particularly on holidays and during off-peak hours, until rapid service trains were introduced on the Keihin-Tōhoku Line in 1988. A major explosion on the Yamanote Freight Line in Shinjuku in 1967 led to the diversion of freight traffic to the more distant Musashino Line. To address severe undercapacity, the freight line was repurposed for use by Saikyo Line and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line trains, as well as certain limited express trains such as the Narita Express and some liner services. Likewise, from 14 March 2015 onwards, the Ueno-Tokyo Line starts services, which connects the Tohoku Main Line and Joban Line to the Tokaido Main Line, to provide further relief on the busiest portion of the Yamanote Line today, the segment between Ueno and Tokyo stations. Metro Stations *Okachimachi (Keihin-Tohuku Line, Yamanote Line, Toei Oedo Line, Ginza and Hibiya Line) *Omote-Sando (Ginza, Chiyoda and Hanzomon Line) *Ginza (Ginza, Maronuochi and Hibiya Line) *Sugamo (Mita Line)